NEW DELHI, Nov 5 — The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's writ petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a fresh money-laundering case, and instead sent the fight to the Allahabad High Court, directing that the case be listed before a Division Bench there on November 16.

Source: Verdictum

A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the Supreme Court Registry to transfer the petition's original record to the Allahabad High Court within two days. The Registrar General of the High Court was asked to place the matter before the appropriate authority — even during vacations — and obtain orders for the November 16 listing. The Bench granted Khan liberty to file amended prayers and additional documents, and made clear it had expressed no opinion on the merits: all contentions were kept open.

The order is the latest turn in a case Awaaz Punjab reported on November 2, when Khan first moved the Supreme Court against the ED arrest, made shortly after his release from Rampur jail. Thursday's decision means the top court will not hear the challenge itself — the jurisdictional High Court will, on an out-of-turn basis the Supreme Court specifically requested. The High Court has also been asked to pass interim orders on Khan's plea for bail in the ED case, Daily World reported.

What was argued

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the 78-year-old SP leader, told the Bench that 26 FIRs were lodged against Khan in 2019 over alleged incidents of 2006, and that in all 87 FIRs had been registered against him. Sibal submitted that Khan had obtained bail in the cases but remained in jail from 2023 to 2025, and that when an 88th FIR was lodged, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had granted bail by invoking Article 142. The Bench remarked that bail had been granted not in all cases, but in most of them. Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju appeared for the ED.

Justice Bagchi traced the ED's case in open court: the first enforcement case information report rested on alleged extortion — land taken from farmers for Khan's Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur — and investigators later built on income-tax material alleging substantial unaccounted funds linked to the university's management. Khan's core argument, as the Bench summarised it, is that the proceedings are mala fide. These are allegations and arguments reported from the hearing; the courts have not decided them.

How Khan landed back in custody

The Allahabad High Court on October 29 granted bail to Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan in the dual PAN card case, suspending their sentences but declining to stay their convictions. Shortly after the two walked out of Rampur jail, the ED arrested Azam Khan on October 31 in the separate money-laundering case. A special court in Ghaziabad sent him to 14 days of judicial custody on November 1.

According to the ED, as reported by Verdictum, the money-laundering case takes cognisance of 58 FIRs registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police against Khan and his alleged associates. On October 28, the agency said it had attached the land and buildings of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, with a current market value of Rs 1,170 crore, alleging that government funds meant for public works were diverted to build the private university — an allegation Khan's side contests through these proceedings.